Newbie FAQ
This is a page to answer common questions from new listeners to The Thrilling Adventure Hour. Please feel free to add questions you might have, and we'll answer them! General Questions Q: Okay help, I'm totally lost. Someone please tell me what's going on. The Thrilling Adventure Hour is a monthly podcast and erstwhile staged show. It began in 2005 at M Bar, and then moved to Largo at the Coronet in Hollywood from 2010 to 2015. Each live show was then broken down and released in a podcast by segment. There are also special episodes which aren't a part of the live show, like panels and interviews, or studio-recorded segments, sometimes released on the podcast. As of October 29, 2018, the podcast has been relaunched without a live stage show component, featuring instead studio-recorded segments produced by Forever Dog. At the same time, the majority of the episodes were moved to a new Patreon page, with only a small selection of episodes left on the free feed for people who are seeking out the show for the first time. This is the (fan-run) wiki for the show. We cover everything we can think of that has to do with the podcast, the live show, and all other Thrilling Adventure Hour offerings like the Original Graphic Novel, the comic book series, and the webseries. Please note that since the show moved most of the episodes to Patreon, the process of updating this wiki to fix broken episode links and all the other changes necessary to reflect the new reality is in process, if moving slowly. Q: What is the show about? The Thrilling Adventure Hour's live show is done in the style of old-timey radio shows from the 1920's - 1950's. It might be helpful to think of the podcast as a television or radio station. There are several "shows" (which are generally referred to as "segments") on the station. Some of these segments intersect or have "spin-offs," and some do not. Some shows need to be listened to in order for continuity, but most do not. The first episode of the behind-the-scenes web series is a good primer for the show. Q: What is the difference between The Thrilling Adventure Hour, The Thrilling Adventure and Supernatural Suspense Hour, The Thrilling Adventure Treasury, and Workjuice Theater? These are all names for different eras or incarnations of The Thrilling Adventure Hour. Please note that for the purposes of this wiki, The Thrilling Adventure Hour or the abbreviation TAH are used as umbrella terms to refer to all incarnations of the podcast and stage show. The Thrilling Adventure and Supernatural Suspense Hour was the name the live show had when it launched at M Bar in 2005. When the live show moved Largo at the Coronet in 2010, it was called The Thrilling Adventure Hour, and the podcast took the same name when it began in January 2011. After the main run of the live show ended in 2015, certain special live performances were referred to as Workjuice Theater. As of October 29, 2018, the podcast has been relaunched with studio-recorded segments and its name has been changed to The Thrilling Adventure Hour Treasury. Q: How do I know which is which? The various groups of segments are listed together under "The Segments" on the front page, but here is a more detailed breakdown. Segment Groups and Continuity 'The Sparks Nevada, Marshal on Mars Extended Universe' Sparks Nevada, Marshal on Mars is a Space-Western which takes place on Mars in the 31st Century. It focuses on Sparks Nevada, the erstwhile marshal, and his faithful martian companion, Croach the Tracker. The "spin off" segments expand the world of Sparks Nevada, taking us into the rest of our solar system and galaxy to further the overall storyline of Sparks Nevada. The Sparks Nevada universe includes: *Sparks Nevada, Marshal on Mars *War of Two Worlds *Tales of the United Solar System Alliance *The Red Plains Rider *Cactoid Jim, King of the Martian Frontier *Tales of the Troubleshooters. The Sparks Nevada group of segments has the most intersecting storylines, and is the ONLY live segment group that must ''be listened to in order. It is all explained on The Sparks Nevada Universe page, which lists ''everything in the Sparks Nevada universe and the best order to follow to listen to it all. We highly ''recommend following the suggested listening order on The Sparks Nevada Universe page while listening to the Sparks Nevada universe episodes, as there are several episodes out of order on the podcast feed and some episodes which aren't clearly marked as being a part of the Sparks Nevada universe which are necessary for plot continuity. 'The Adventures of Captain Laserbeam''' and Phillip Fathom, Deep Sea Detective The The Adventures of Captain Laserbeam is a superhero segment starring Captain Laserbeam, hero of Apex City, as he deals with all manner of vile villains, his pubescent helpers the Adventurekateers, and his dismal love life. He sometimes teams up with Phillip Fathom, Deep Sea Detective, who was given his own segment, but often appears in Captain Laserbeam episodes. Captain Laserbeam is generally not serialized and can be understood when listened to in any order, but listening in podcast order is recommended. 'Jefferson Reid, Ace American '''and' Amelia Earhart, Fearless Flyer' The segments Jefferson Reid, Ace American and Amelia Earhart, Fearless Flyer both deal with World War II United States special agents for the American Victory Commission who fight Nazis. They share common characters, although their lead characters have not interacted. Neither segment is serialized and can be listened to in any order. 'The Cross-Time Adventures of Colonel Tick-Tock''' and The Algonquin Four The Cross-Time Adventures of Colonel Tick-Tock is a segment which stars a British time-traveler, Colonel Tick-Tock who works for her Majesty's Royal Chronopatrol. He is a special agent who fixes problems in the time stream and time-anomalies which were never meant to happen. He encounters The Algonquin Four, historical figures who accidentally acquire super powers. The Algonquin Four have aided both Colonel Tick Tock and ''Amelia Earhart, loosely connecting the Amelia Earhart and Jefferson Reid segments to Colonel Tick Tock. These four segments together are casually referred to as The Chronopatrol Universe. Although these four segments are now joined in the same universe, they are non-serialized and can still be listened to in any order. 'Other Segments''' There are several other segments, which can be discovered on their own, none of which intersect with each other or any other segments. They are also almost all non-serialized. These include: *Beyond Belief - The "Fan Favorite" segment. Two married, drunk mediums, Frank and Sadie Doyle, meet ghosts, gods, vampires, evil clowns and other supernatural creatures. *Down in Moonshine Holler - A millionare leaves his riches behind to seek his true love, the Hobo Princess, with his mentor, Gummy. *Jumbo the Elephant - Jumbo and his Jazz Combo save various holidays. *Desdemona Hughes, Diva Detective - Desdemona and her sister Betty solve crimes using surprise and disguises. *Tales from the Black Lagoon - a studio-recorded segment from the Noir era, is also serialized *Special Episodes - There are interviews, panels, fake commercials, an occasional episode of other podcasts, and other episodes not a part of the live show which were released on the podcast. Episode Questions How do you suggest I start listening to the show? Our suggestion is to start at the beginning and listen straight through, while following the Sparks Nevada Universe Continuity page for Sparks Nevada episodes, to re-order a few special episodes that are out of order. Another possibility is to find a segment that sounds interesting to you, and listen to all of that segment, then pick another segment and listen it that, and so on. Our suggestion in that case is to start with Beyond Belief, or the Sparks Nevada Universe. For a segment with fewer episodes, try The Adventures of Captain Laserbeam, or Down in Moonshine Holler. If I just want to sample a couple of episodes first, what should I listen to? *Beyond Belief - Thrillingadventurehour.com recommends Touch of Keeble (TAH #140). We also recommend Love Love me Doom (TAH #32). *Sparks Nevada, Marshal on Mars - Thrillingadventurehour.com recommends Do the Fight Thing. (TAH #57). We also recommend Blast From the Past (TAH #14). *The Adventures of Captain Laserbeam - Disenchantment Under the Sea (TAH #57) *Amelia Earhart, Fearless Flyer - Vive Le Reich? (TAH #44) *The Cross-Time Adventures of Colonel Tick-Tock - Horse Play (TAH #154) *Down in Moonshine Holler - The Lottery (TAH #23) What is the episode order of the show? Here's a listing of all of the episodes in release order. Why are episodes #40 and #41 out of order on my download list? They were accidentally deleted off the podcast list for awhile, and re-released a few months ago. Listen to them as #40 and #41, don't wait until after #149 as they currently appear. Where is episode #39? Per Ben Blacker, there was a numbering error, and #39 does not exist. Why are there four episode #166s? The Sparks Nevada episode Emperor of Mars was performed four times in different locations with different actors in the guest roles. All four performances of the episode were released in one day for people to enjoy. The script is exactly the same, just the guest actors are different. What is this I hear about a comic book series? Both Beyond Belief and Sparks Nevada, Marshal on Mars both have had ongoing comic books. The first series of books were published by Image Comics, in both digital and physical formats. For more information, see the Comic Books section on the official TAH website. Unfortunately, the Image comics pages for Sparks Nevada and Beyond Belief are now defunct. Collections of these comic books are being released in paperback form, or can still be purchased digitally via Amazon or Comixology. In 2018, a new series of Beyond Belief comics are being published. These can be found in your friendly local comic store, or digitally at the links above. For a listing of all current available comic books see the comic book page. I heard The Thrilling Adventure Hour is ending. Is it ending? It was announced at New York Comic Con 2015 that the show would be ending, and the last regular Largo show was performed in April 2016. For the remainder of 2016, episodes continued to be released, though fewer appeared as the year came to a close. One extra episode of Beyond Belief released in May 2017. A few live shows happened throughout 2016 and 2017, mostly as benefits for various causes, and a few Improv shows. For a time, it looked like, aside from the 2018 Beyond Belief comic book series, the show may not be returning. On October 1st, 2018, it was announced that The Thrilling Adventure Hour has joined the Forever Dog Podcast Network. The podcast will return October 29th, 2018 with one unreleased episode and one new, in-studio recorded episode released monthly. Other writers will be writing for the show, in addition to Acker and Blacker, as well as other actors in addition to the Workjuice Players. A name change for the show may be forthcoming. Other Questions Why are some segments referred to as "Middle Segments" Sparks Nevada, Marshal on Mars is the first segment performed in every regular live show. Beyond Belief is the final segment performed in every live show. There is generally one segment performed in between Sparks Nevada and Beyond Belief, and that segment is referred to as the Middle Segment. I have never listened to a podcast before. How do I do this podcast thing? There are a few different ways to go about listening to the show. *If you have an iPhone, here's a handy FAQ for finding and subscribing to podcasts with iTunes. *If you have an Android, you'll want to download a podcast player. Search for Podcast Player in the Play store. Podcast Republic is a good one to try. If you search for "Thrilling Adventure Hour" and the podcast player is unable to find the podcast, search instead for "The Thrilling Adventure Hour" (or vice versa.) Remember to hit the subscribe button so you won't have to keep searching for the podcast! *You can also listen on your computer, laptop or any device that can surf the web, at Soundcloud, or on the Nerdist. (Note that the Nerdist only starts at episode #42, so you may want to start with episode #1 on Soundcloud before moving to the Nerdist.) *Opening the libsyn or feedburner feeds directly in your browser might also work depending on your browser (For example: Firefox works, Opera Mobile 12 (aka Classic) feedburner only). What if I have other questions that aren't answered here? *You can post a comment at the bottom of this page. It might take several hours or a day to get an answer, however. *The wiki admins here are Ahab99 and Annakie. You may post on either of our walls. We are also always happy to answer questions on Twitter (@ahab99 and @annakie) or Tumblr (also Ahab99 and Annakie ) *You could also ask the official Thrilling Adventure Hour twitter account at @thrillingadv Where can I meet more fans of the Thrilling Adventure Hour online? Please visit fyeahthrillingadventurehour on tumblr. The gold bar at the top has both official links, and links to fan works and other fan blogs. Also, be sure to follow the official TAH twitter (@thrillingadv) as well as the Facebook page and tumblr. Category:Meta data